Editor's note: Bill Smith, a former school teacher in Washington, D.C., and Caroline Kemerling, the media specialist at M.C. Riley Elementary School, followed a trail blazed by the Travel Channel to an emerald mine in North Carolina. The trip garnered handful of gems and a lot of adventurous memories.

Caroline and I ventured to the hills of North Carolina recently in search of emeralds. She had seen a segment on the Travel Channel called "Cash to Treasures" promoting the Emerald Hollow Mine in Hiddenite, N.C.

Her interest was piqued, so off we drove in the direction of Taylorsville, N.C., about an hour northwest of Charlotte.

After five hours we reached Taylorsville, which is about 40 minutes east of Lenoir on SR 90. The town of Taylorsville is rather small and the choices of overnight accommodations are limited. We checked into the Apple City Bed and Breakfast late in the afternoon and had a splendid Italian meal at Giovanni's Ristorante - antipasto and pizza for two for $20 including the tip.

As a side note, North Carolina has a number of dry counties and Taylorsville was situated in one of those, so vino was not on the menu.

The next morning we feasted on a scrumptious breakfast prepared by the operators of the inn. There was enough food to last through the rest of the day.

Then we set off on a six-mile drive on SR 90 to Hiddenite. This is purportedly the sole area in which emeralds are found in North America. There are several mining operations located in the immediate area. However, the Emerald Hollow Mine is the only one open to the public. The mine has yielded for the owner more than a half million dollars worth of emeralds, so we were excited about the prospect of discovering a mother lode.

We arrived at the mine after a slow and laborious trek over an extremely rough trail - one better suited to a pack burro.

We purchased the rights to go sluicing and creeking, covering the fees of the mine plus the license to proceed. This fee entitled each of us to obtain a bucket of dirt and seat at the sluicing table and the tools needed to sluice at the trough and later again in the creek.

We began at the trough, scooping dirt from the bucket into a mesh basket. Sluicing is allowing the rushing water to wash away the dirt, leaving the stones in the screen. We were instructed to pick out any stones that had color. Once we emptied all the dirt, we were left with numerous stones, many of which exhibited colorful, shiny areas.

Clarence was on hand to identify what we hoped were treasures. We anxiously awaited his assessment of the stones. I was pleasantly gratified to learn that I had gleaned a very fine garnet - approximately 8 or 9 carats. Also, we found smaller pieces of amethyst, rose quartz, adventurine and other gem stones.

Then we walked a short distance to the creek. After an hour of sluicing there, it yielded another baggie full of stones. Unfortunately, we still had only found one rock of gem quality - the lonely garnet.

Wading in the creek was quite refreshing. Recall pictures you've seen of the '49ers panning for gold. We would recommend that waders wear old sneakers to protect their feet from the rugged and slippery bottom. Crocs would be ideal footwear for this activity.

Still our baggies were bereft of emeralds. Determined not to leave without at least one much-anticipated green stone, we purchased what was labeled "an emerald bucket." Now the stakes were higher, as we coughed up $25 for one of those special bucketfuls of dirt produced from the nearby emerald mine.

More excited than ever, we began sluicing away. Lo and behold, there was a large rock near the top with green streaks. Further down we found numerous smaller rocks of similar color. Emeralds typically are encased in a black outer stone with green areas throughout. A gemologist can verify the quality of the emerald within.

At the close of our quest, I approached an employee and queried him as to the classification of a rather large glittery stone I held.

He opined that it was "leverite." I was eager to find out about leverite and when I wondered aloud what I had, he responded to my great disappointment, "leave 'er right here; it's not worth anything."

As we returned to the parking area, we stopped at the lapidary, manned by a certified gemologist. He evaluated all of our treasures and determined that we had produced four emeralds and the garnet that were "gem quality." We ordered the cutting and setting of the stones - some in silver, some in gold.

We left the mine gratified with our experiences as miners and several hours-worth of favorable memories.

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